Seabeard
Seabeard is an aged dwarf mariner who has spent most of his life on the rolling deck of a ship. Pledged to search the seas and lands of Azeroth for the cure to a crustacean's curse, he can found combing the beaches and tidepools, or enjoying the comforts of a friendly portside tavern.__FORCETOC__ Description A lean, weather-scarred and sun-tanned dwarf, Seabeard has the countenance of a thundercloud and the tongue of a scurvy old salt. His sandy-coloured hair is tangled like old ropes with barnacles and the odd gold ring or charm token. His skin is dark and cracked like sailcanvas by wind and salt, covered in crude tattoos like trophies from distant ports, and he emerald eyes twinkle with mischief. He garbs himself as a merchant sailor in the Kul Tiran fashion, with gaudy colours and patterns that would produce frowns and teeth-gnashing among the old longbeards of Ironforge, but are quite at home among the rigging of any Alliance ship. He walks with the uneven gait of one used to a rolling deck at sea, and is much at home there as in the winesinks and bawdy-homes of ports across Azeroth. The Old Salt's Yarn (History) Old days Found while still in his swaddling clothes in the wreckage of a serpent-drowned fleet that had carried dwarven refugees, Seabeard was given his name by his rescuers. The brave lads of the Kul Tiras Navy raised the dwarfling from a pup, keeping him aboard as a good luck charm. The dwarf boy grew up knowing the hard life of a true Tar. Decades passed as he plied the sea-lanes, while his crewmates grew old or drowned. Seabeard grew weatherbeaten, his skin and hair roughened by salt and wind and sea. Tides of Darkness In the Second War, he fought in the naval combat off Southshore, the Channel Islands near Zul’dare, and multiple battles off Tol Barad where he was nearly drowned. Midshipmate Seabeard made his bones in the Kul Tiran navy during the final engagements that secured the liberation of Kaz Modan, sailing under the colours of Commodore Arthor “Keelhaul” Goldfield, whose reputation for daring broadsides and ruthlessness made him enemies across all the seas. Seabeard proved lucky to Keelhaul at the final skirmish at Tol Barad, saving the Pride's Wake from the jaws of a orcish destroyer squadron with a timely maneuver that brought the ship's cannons to full effect. The Expedition Promoted to oversee the formidable gunlines of Keelhaul’s flagship, the Pride’s Wake, Seabeard proved his mettle in duels with red sail seadogs, perfidious naga, orc warships, and the anger of the waves themselves. After the war, Keelhaul’s fleet departed on an ill-fated expedition to the southerly coasts of Kalimdor, where they were blasted and broken apart by a furious typhoon. As the Pride’s Wake struggled to keep right of the hammering waves, a naga seawitch revealed herself, and her ambush, slaughtering the crew as the ship was wrent apart by the powerful storm. As Seabeard watched from a tangle of rope and wooden debris, the seawitch dueled with mighty Keelhaul. The brave captain had the better of the Naga for a time, and at last managed to stab her through the heart as the ship was torn apart in the maelstrom. But the sea bitch had her revenge. With her dying breath she cast upon him a dread curse, transforming the proud Kul Tiran sailor into a pitiful little sea crab. Flotsam Seabeard was near drowned by that storm, but was saved by his former skipper, who grabbed him in his claws and swam him away from the sinking ship and naga assault. He awoke upon distant isles in the aftermath of the storm, lashed to a spar and near-drowned, awakened by the sight of a red crab watching over him. Readying for a long and perilous voyage. Now he travels by the Commodore’s side, seeking to undo the curse wrought upon him by finding secrets and clues hidden in ancient ruins and distant lands. OOC Contacts You may know Seabeard if.. * You served in the Kul Tiran navy in the Second War * You frequent the taverns and winesinks of port cities * You deal in relics, secrets, or knowledge of rare curses OOC Information Category:Characters Category:Alliance